I was hoping with all the training that I did that I would not be the slowest rider on the trip, but I think that I still am. Our second day of riding went better than the first for me. I had some pretty bad cramps on the first day. I tried a new product which did help, but I was stopped in my tracks by intense cramps a handful of times. The second day we went farther and it was also hotter, but I didn’t get any cramps at all. It’s true that dry heat is not as hot! It was 92 degrees out, but felt more like 85 since I am accustomed to heat always accompanied by humidity.
I did get a flat tire near the end of the day. (I can fix my own flat! For a long time, I couldn’t do it because I didn’t have the hand strength to get the tire back on the rim. YouTube saved me, and I learned a trick that doesn’t take oodles of hand strength!)
We went through the Sonoma and Napa valleys, and within a couple of miles of the Jelly Belly factory, so one of our support team members stopped there and bought a Jelly Belly sampler!
In the evening we stayed at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Vacaville. We received a very warm welcome, and church members paid close attention to our presentation about the Fuller Center. The more I learn, the more impressed I am with the Fuller Center and the work they do.
Right before supper, I decided to have another jelly bean or two, felt something strange in my mouth and discovered that a crown had come off one of my teeth. This is definitely a circumstance where a smartphone comes in handy. I Googled “emergency dentist near me” and got a phone number which was actually a kind of clearing house connected to 1 800 dentist! I got an appointment for the next morning, hoping that someone from our team would be able to take me to the appointment. (The person I was told to ask, Phil, was out marking the trail for the next day.)
My tooth is now fixed. I was disappointed to miss the day from Vacaville to Sacramento, because it looked like it would be really fun–very little uphill climbing to do, and there might even have been tailwinds. But, riding with Phil, mine was the first bicycle to reach our destination–something that is unlikely to happen ever again! We also had a good day, even though we did no cycling.
